shabda, with bret cohen

It's similar to kirtan, kozen rufu, or the sounds of a forest. It's an ancient human practice, with the words removed, with the walls removed. Anyone can experience this, regardless of belief, caste etc. It's available, in all of its magnificent honesty, and rawness. There is a deep deep connection here...

The story begins a couple years ago. Several years after immersing in this chant practice, singing interpretations of chants of asia, africa, and elsewhere, I found myself one night supporting a woman who leads chants. We were gathering with some friend's in soho, manhattan. After leading about an hour of sanskrit singing as usual, she asked everyone to hum the melody. No words, just the gorgeous sound of everyone singing together in unison, and… Read more

Laughter is spiritual health. And laughter is very unburdening. While you laugh, you can put your mind aside very easily. For a man who cannot laugh the doors of the buddha are closed. To me, laughter is one of the greatest values. No religion has ever thought about it. They have always been insisting on seriousness, and because of their insistence the whole world is psychologically sick.

Everybody knows from his own experience that after laughter, good laughter, a belly laugh, you almost feel that… Read more

Jiddu Krishnamurti : Love is the unknowable. It can be realized only when the known is understood and transcended. Only when the mind is free of the known, then only there will be love. So, we must approach love negatively and not positively.

What is love to most of us? With us, when we love, in it there is possessiveness, dominance, or subservience. From this possession arises jealousy and fear of loss, and we legalize this possessive instinct. From… Read more

Then the Devil said, “Hey ! Mr Gullible !
How come you’ve been calling all night
and never once heard Allah say, “Here, I am” ?
You call out so earnestly and, in reply, what ?
I’ll tell you what. Nothing !

The man suddenly felt empty and abandoned.

Depressed, he threw himself on the ground
and fell into a deep sleep.
In a dream, he met Abraham, who asked,
“Why are you regretting praising… Read more